7 Answers
7

Read (like when people read a magazine in the bathroom or Google puts up their "testing in the toilet" newsletter on the wall of the stall.

Think/relax/take a break - it is possible to be too productive. This is one of the few times nobody is talking you to you. Sometimes if you let your brain relax, ideas will come to you. (I have my ideas while walking and not on the can, but that's just me.)

Try to memorize something - I got this idea from a guy who know the gallon/liter conversion ratio because it is apparently posted on every urinal so he sees it a lot. I tried putting up a paper in my home bathroom with some items I wanted to memorize. It worked well because I saw it a number of times a day.

Try figure out why you're taking more time than you think you should. Speak to a doctor if you find yourself consistently spending more time than others in the bathroom for some kind of personal health related reason.

A smart phone can be really useful for these breaks, for e.g. read through your todo list for the day to make sure you're on top of everything

Use a flash card program like Anki - it's a non-obvious way to productively use time to reinforce things you're currently studying.

I can't help but say I feel like this might be taking the thought of personal productivity a little too far.

When I was wearing a heart rate monitor, my pulse dropped by a large amount when I set on the toilet.

It was the action that I could do with produced the largest drop in heart rate. The effect was much stronger than lying down, starring at the wall and doing nothing.

Evolution seems to have built a relaxation program that automatically starts when one sits on the toilet. To complete your task in the bathroom in the shortest amount of time, you have to relax the muscles in your anus.

If that relaxation program gets disrupted you will need more time in the bathroom. It therefore seems ineffienct to do other tasks while you are in the bathroom.

If you want the process to be more efficient, do progressive muscle relaxation. Use the time on the toilet to relax as deep as possible.